Nelson, McCollum in final, perhaps crucial, debate

ORLANDO -- Republican Bill McCollum and Democrat Bill Nelson threw off the gloves and abandoned all appearances of politeness Friday night during the final debate of Florida's U.S. Senate race.

McCollum and Nelson blamed each other for high insurance rates, ignoring campaign finance reform and pandering to special interests during an hourlong debate in Orlando in which they answered videotaped questions from voters.

State Rep. Willie Logan of Opa-Locka, who is running unaffiliated for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican Connie Mack, said he was the one candidate who wasn't beholden to special interests.

McCollum, a U.S. congressman from the Orlando area, blamed Nelson for not doing enough to keep insurance rates down during his tenure as insurance commissioner.

Nelson said he has tried for three years to get rid of an arbitration panel that has overruled him several times on rates, but he's been stymied by an uninterested Legislature. He also said he inherited the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew, one of the nation's worst natural disasters.

Nelson accused McCollum of being in the pockets of the mobile home industry and financial services industry. After the 1998 tornados which killed dozens of people in the Orlando area, many living in mobile homes, McCollum supported a measure to relax regulation of mobile homes, Nelson said.

''He's an example of being on the side of special interests,'' Nelson said.

McCollum accused Nelson of being a hypocrite for pledging to support campaign finance reform while at the same time accepting ''soft money'' -- unregulated campaign money from parties -- during a fund-raiser featuring President Clinton.

''The reality is he started this soft money business in a big way,'' McCollum said of Nelson.

In the opening minutes of the debate, the candidates also talked about Social Security, health care and the working poor.

Nelson said he supports using the federal budget surplus to guarantee Social Security's solvency and wants to expand Medicare to cover prescription drugs.

McCollum said he favors allowing workers to invest in the stock market a portion of what they pay in Social Security taxes. He also supports the GOP plan to cover prescription drugs for the elderly poor and subsidize choice in drug plans for other Medicare beneficiaries.

The race is one of the most closely watched in the nation. With 11 days before the election, many voters haven't made up their minds.

Eighteen percent of the electorate remains undecided or uncertain about who to vote for, according to a CBS News/New York Times poll released this week.